architects and urban designers

Colywn Bay Watersports Centre

Location: Colwyn Bay

Programme: 2010-2011

Colwyn Bay had extraordinary natural beauty in the form of its long sweeping bay, and the site for a new watersports centre was selected for this amenity and its proximity to a verdant river valley sports park just inland. The brief was for changing facilities, a shop and a cafe bar.

Drawing on the tradition of bold seaside structures such as Martello Towers, breakwaters and lighthouses, Arca proposed three tilted and overlapping drums. These would serve as a new landmark that would register at the scale of the bay, becoming uniquely associated with the town. The drums were to be constructed of concrete made with local sand, surmounted by timber viewing decks for events. Internally, the spaces were purposely robust, with raw untreated materials throughout, that could cope with windswept walkers and wet dogs.